Hikaru Nakamura Juggles between Classical and Online Chess
World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura found himself in a challenging predicament during the third round of the 2025 Maritime Open in Canada, as he pursued qualification for the FIDE Candidates. The open tournament clashed with an online blitz event, the Comet Open, hosted in collaboration with Perplexity AI and boasting an impressive prize pool of $200,000. Through his YouTube recap videos, Nakamura made it clear that he intended to juggle the qualifiers for the Comet Open while competing in the classical tournament.
On October 12, at 13:00 UTC, as Nakamura prepared to face IM Mike Ivanov in his third-round game, the fifth qualifier arena of the Comet Open began simultaneously. Hoping to conclude his classical game before 15:15 UTC, when the sixth qualifier of the Comet Open started, Nakamura found himself in the following position after 27 moves of unambitious play:
Despite his reputation for grinding out even the driest positions against lower-rated opponents, Nakamura, facing an opponent rated 450 points lower, offered an immediate draw to ensure he could participate in the final Comet Open qualifier arena on Chess.com. Not only did he make it in time, but he also won the sixth qualifier, securing a spot in the playoffs and a chance at the substantial $45,000 first-place prize.
After completing the two-hour blitz arena, Nakamura immediately returned to the board for another classical game against the tournament leader, IM Mark Plotkin. Competing in two classical chess games and a two-hour blitz arena without breaks, at the age of 37, is a feat only Hikaru Nakamura could achieve. Despite the grueling day, he still found time to post a YouTube recap, consistently engaging his streaming audience with his passion and dedication.
Photo courtesy: Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE
